First, a quick recap of this series for any new readers: the party was given a magical timepiece from Waterdeep’s master gnome tinkerer, Tink Urbelle, allowing players to return to their home base once per long rest. There’s just one small catch. This arcane doorway has a 30% chance of temporarily placing you at the wrong location…that’s the “Kinda, Sorta” part of the “Kinda, Sortal Portal” magic item.

Underground is the central gameboard theme for this next magical entry. For that, we’re going to utilize Milestone Heroes’ marvelous Caverns series. We’ve showcased their magnificent modular STLs on the channel numerous times, including a detailed, step-by-step paint guide! So, you have everything at your fingertips to create this quickie one-shot random event.

To complete our encounter, we’re going to utilize two swell creators for our miniatures: mz4250 and Vae Victis. We’re able to quickly identify the Vae Victis here, but man, it was a slog to try and give you the direct link for mz4250’s creation. He has 5,000-plus STLs — no, seriously, he’s made that many free 3D prints — and we were initially coming up zeroes on our Google Image search. Luckily, the kind patrons on the Loot Studios discord helped us out!

First, let’s showcase mz4250’s 3D-print interpretation of the Morkoth! This garbage gobbler is from Volo’s Guide to Monsters and Mordenkainen’s Monsters of the Multiverse. Resident painter Kimmy Utah colored this freaky monster up for us, and we love the final product here!

Our other central mini here is by Vae Victis and is from their applicable named Corpses set. Please forgive the FDM layer lines here (which appear more on a zoomed-in digital image). This was before we started using Adaptive Layering in our Prusa slicer. DM Ben loves to lure adventurers further into an encounter with a body. Players just can’t resist investigating (and looting) our fallen human adventurer Cleric.

Now that we’ve got our terrain and miniatures, let’s flush out the parameters of this encounter. The Kinda Sorta Portal drops adventurers from above (in the spirit of the classic Time Bandits film), so the players will start at the far end of the map.

It will be pitch black except for the remnants of a nearly burned-out torch. A battered body is seen poking out from an overside stalagmite. Anyone with dark vision will also notice a faint outline of what can only be described as a “pile of garbage.” They will also hear a few clanking sounds from that direction.

The players will ultimately see the back of the Morkoth, who is feverishly fishing through the rest of the nearly-dead adventurers’ belongings. The fallen human will show glimpses of being alive, such as slow breaths and slight movements, but the guy is hanging on by a thread after getting thrashed by this freak monster. At first, the group will see an empty flask land near them. Next, they see a sword added to the mysterious collector’s treasure pile.

Our six-member, fifth-level party should be able to hold out against this aberration…at least temporarily. A reminder of the portal’s unpredictable mechanics:

• Activating the portal the first time (takes 2 rnds/12 sec).
• There’s a 30% chance of being transported to a random location.
• Players are temporarily stuck in that unplanned spot (for up to 6 rnds/36 sec).
• They have to wait at least 3 rnds/18 secs before they can get back into it again.
• The timepiece holder has to go through the portal last.

So if the Kinda, Sorta Portal takes you to the wrong spot, you must be there for at least three rounds before you try to get to your original home destination again. After six rounds, the portal fizzles out, and you’re stuck in your current location (if you don’t jump back in it before then).

All that’s left to do now is update our growing teleportation table!

Until next time!

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Here is a quick look at our sub-encounter goal list:

• Part 1: Feast Gone Wrong | group gets captured 
• Part 1: Behind Bars | start gathering intel 
• Part 2: Waterdeep Express | time to hit the road 
• Part 3: Chance to Live | get a chance to regain their freedom

So, let’s see what we can do here in terms of the narrative, the gameboard terrain, and the accompanying miniatures.

DM Ben used the first half of this captive one-shot to help the party figure out who had taken them prisoner and why. Escaping without any intel is much more difficult than doing so armed with the right knowledge and plan.

And here’s the sorta info the group can obtain through a series of successful skill checks:

• The Cultists were hired by a group called “The Six.”
• A member of The Six is with the Cultists.
• This liaison has a small tattoo.
• The Cultists love to gamble and drink.
• The Six is ultimately going to sell the group to Slave Traders.
• The group has friended another prisoner named Fignor.
• There’s a disgruntled Cultist guard is named Tybris.
• There’s a compassionate Kobold servant named Fen.

That’s a lot of powerful intel that could help your game group escape and, more importantly, exact revenge.

In Part 2 of the encounter, we created a campfire scene with numerous skill check choices that the group can use at multiple rest pitstops along the way to Waterdeep. Now, we’re going to give the players their best opportunity to make a break for it.

The caravan (which consists of two wagons) will ultimately come to a fork in the road, with the most direct route to Waterdeep now blocked by a downed heavy horse and rider. The Cultist Captain of the Guard will hop out and inspect the disturbance. Travel to and from the capital city is always fraught with danger, so this roadblock won’t be a tremendous surprise. If anything, the Cultists will be ticked off because it means they have to take an alternate route that is known to be quite perilous. The Slave Trader auction starts soon, so time is of the essence – the Cultists have to take the alternate route.

We’re using some awesome road terrain by Infinite Dimensions Games, and our downed horse and rider are from Vae Victus Miniatures.

Share with the group that the Cultists blurt out that it looks like another Troll attack, as the freshly smashed victims and heavy boulders are big signs of such an ambush. Nobody likes Trolls (and our next character knows it), so seeing this sorta carnage makes complete sense here as a reason to take the detour.

What the Cultists don’t realize, though, is that this scene has been staged by an infamous vigilante who despises the slave trade and wants to wreak havoc on this injustice whenever she can. This no-nonsense-gal is beloved by countless locals but has also made just as many evil enemies.

DM Ben has already created this marvelous hero in another campaign. Her name is Shelley Packatase of the East Indies Trading Company. Let’s introduce her to this game group, too! We love reusing home-brewed content from our other games, but we have the learnings to improve upon it this time!

Our character card is from LokeBattleMats’ must-own Long Road RPG Toolbox. Our female hero is a slick miniature from EC3D Designs’ Scorching Sands set.

Tomorrow, we’ll go into the actual ambush scenario narrative and its combat mechanics! Time to give your adventurers a chance to earn their freedom back!

The post Building the Behind Bars One-Shot DnD Encounter P3 appeared first on 3DRPG.